Scott Pioli Explains What Separates Good Teams from Great Ones

Former NFL executive Scott Pioli joins Inside Automotive to share the leadership and culture principles that helped build championship teams—and how dealerships can apply them to create lasting success.

Drawing on 27 years with the New England Patriots, Kansas City Chiefs, and Atlanta Falcons, Pioli explains why sustained performance starts with hiring people who fit the culture, not just the résumé. He discusses the difference between work ethic and work habits, why accountability requires healthy friction, and how small, consistent actions often determine long-term results. Through stories about leaders like Bill Belichick and Tom Brady, Pioli illustrates how humility, discipline, and servant leadership create organizations where people thrive. Whether leading a dealership, managing a sales team, or building the next generation of leaders, Pioli argues that competitive advantage ultimately comes from investing in people—not just processes or technology.

Key discussion points:

• Why culture begins with hiring the right people
• The difference between work ethic and work habits
• How accountability and constructive friction strengthen teams
• Lessons from Bill Belichick and Tom Brady on leadership and discipline
• The concept of "hidden yardage" and why small details matter
• Why servant leadership is the foundation of lasting organizational success

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Transcript

Welcome And Big Question

Announcer 0:07

Welcome to Inside Automotive with Jim Fitzpatrick.

Jim Fitzpatrick 0:11

What separates a good organization from a championship organization? Whether you're leading a football team or growing a business success often comes down to leadership, culture, and the ability to develop great people. Joining us today is Scott Pioli, who is a former NFL general manager and executive director. During his 27-year NFL career, Scott helped build championship organizations with the New England Patriots, Kansas City Chiefs, and the Atlanta Falcons, making five trips to the Super Bowl and winning three championships. He was also named NFL Executive of the Year five times. This guy is the guy you want to listen to. So, Scott, thank you so much for taking the time out of what appears to be a very busy schedule and joining us on the show.

SPEAKER_02 0:55

It is, but you know, I I heard about this opportunity and so thankful to be here, truly, Jim. Thanks for having me. I mean I'm excited about this.

Jim Fitzpatrick 1:02

Absolutely. We were excited too. I know our audience is going to get a big kick out of this. And man, to have those kind of teams behind you like that and and uh helping them uh to build those teams, I should say, into championship teams is just amazing. And I know that uh, you know, you're admired

Spotting Culture Fast

Jim Fitzpatrick 1:17

by a lot of people. So thanks again. So um you spent, as I as I mentioned, uh your career building championship organizations. When you walk into a company today, and I know you work with a lot of companies around the country, maybe around the world, what's what's the first signs that tell you whether it has a strong culture, which is what everybody wants, or one that needs work?

SPEAKER_02 1:38

Well, I I think usually in my job, we would walk in and it had to be there needed to be a new culture established. And we had an idea what our culture was, and I say specifically when we arrived at the New England Patriots, because that's when the greatness began. But part of that was learned in previous stops with the Cleveland Browns, working with Bill Belichick and some other folks. And to me, the most important thing about creating a culture is having employees that can understand your culture and want to be a part of your culture, and really not finding people that acquiesce to everything that you do and say, but during the process of talent identification, talent evaluation, talent acquisition, then talent development and hopefully talent retention, when you're looking for those people to be a part of your organization, and that's every job, not just the players, but the executives, the front office, the coaches, when you're doing that, having a very defined understanding of what your culture is. And I'll give you an example, Jim. We were a very demanding culture, right? We were, we understood that we were demanding in the sense that it was there was a great deal of emotional endurance and just overall endurance that was necessary because we were all about the grind. Yeah. We had to bring in employees that made sure that they understood our culture, that it wasn't going to be, it really wasn't that difficult. It was beyond time, pay attention, work hard. But for some reason, that is difficult for some people. So we went and identified the makeup and spent more time understanding the people we brought in rather than being so focused on the skills and the tools and the abilities. We felt if we brought in the

Hiring For Makeup Over Skills

SPEAKER_02 3:28

right people and taught them the right work habits based on what we wanted to do, they would have a chance to make us better.

Jim Fitzpatrick 3:35

Yeah, yeah. Very good point. Very good point. What qualities do great leaders look for in people that that others often overlook? You just mentioned a few of them.

SPEAKER_02 3:45

Yeah, I think one of the things, again, for us, it was was work ethic, right? And a lot of times, you know, Jim, people will use the word work ethic and work habits as the same as if they mean the same thing. They don't. We thought if we found people that were smart, smart enough, and again, it had nothing to do with their grade point average or their IQ, smart people test with people that knew what they knew and knew what they didn't know. And if they had a strong work ethic, we would bring them in and develop them. That's part of the responsibility of the organization, of the company, of the team, is to bring in people with a strong work ethic that are smart and really we would teach them the right work habits. We would teach them, you know, one of our things is we always kept it simple. People looked at our time at the Patriots and some of the other places that I was at where we had success. And we really, our greatest success came when we did the most simple things well, and we did the simple things intentionally. You know, I talked about being on time, paying attention, working hard. The things that manifest themselves off of that, it's dependability, it's reliability, it's accountability, and truthfully, it shows respect for other people. Sure. So we made sure that we

Work Ethic Versus Work Habits

SPEAKER_02 5:02

did some of the simplest things better than other people, and that was a big part of our goal.

Jim Fitzpatrick 5:07

Yeah. And and there's no question about it. Um, you you had a discussion recently that uh uh in in regarding leadership where you talked about the importance of simple standards. Why are the little things often uh what separate high-performing teams from everyone else?

SPEAKER_02 5:24

Well, I I think we we had this saying and this belief, and it in it in our industry it showed itself to be this way every weekend. And as I've talked to a lot of people in businesses, that more games are lost than they are won. And what I meant mean by that is if you stick around, you do all the fundamental things. In our business, it was blocking, tackling, ball security, all of the simple things. There were these items that we called hidden yardage, so to speak. Okay, and hidden yardage in football refers to uncounted yards that are gained or lost through special teams, through penalties, through turnovers. Those things dictate field position. Yeah. And if you put yourself in good field position, then you have a chance to score and win games. So what we did was we made a point to make sure that we would tell our players, we you know, in the football industry, we said it a certain way that I don't think a lot of businesses say we would say don't do dumb stuff. Maybe a little bit different, but you know, don't do do dumb things lose the game. Right. Do all the fundamental things really well, be a good teammate, work together, communicate, collaborate, and put yourself in a position that when the other team makes a mistake, because everyone's gonna make mistakes, just don't make as many mistakes, don't turn the ball over. And that those things have their own, they have their own. You can put a different word on those things in businesses. Sure. And we would wait for teams to make enough mistakes, and then we would prey,

Simple Standards And Hidden Yardage

SPEAKER_02 6:58

P-R-E-Y, prey upon other teams' mistakes and try to do those things better. And that was part of our basis. We had smart people that were reliable, dependable, cared about one another, good teammates that didn't do dumb stuff. Didn't do dumb stuff.

Jim Fitzpatrick 7:15

Accountability is something that every leader. Sure, don't do dumb stuff. That's great. And it would be a bestseller, right? Accountability is something every leader wants, but it's often difficult to create. Um, how can business leaders build a culture where people hold themselves and one another accountable without creating fear or micromanagement in the process?

SPEAKER_02 7:39

Yeah, and that's a great question because I think you said one of the most important things first. Very often when we talk about accountability and people hear the word accountability, they automatically go to this place of holding other people accountable, right? Who's holding the but the reality is that self-accountability is the most important accountability. Yeah. And self-accountability not only comes from within, but it comes from the people around you. Surrounding yourself with people, I've seen a lot of leaders say that they want truth tellers around them, that they don't want sycophants. Yeah. And the reality is they kind of like it when they get rubbed behind the ear a little bit, right? And they're told how wonderful they are or there's not that much friction. Friction is a good thing. And accountability is going to involve friction. So I think the self-accountability component is really important to not only be reflecting upon yourself, but having important leaders along with you that are that are holding you accountable. And and again, the most successful organizations that I was a part of, our team and our locker room, which is the workplace in anywhere, that's where we had our highest level of accountability. Our employees, our players, held one another on account

Accountability Without Fear

SPEAKER_02 8:55

accountable on a level that was extraordinary. And I think it's one of the things looking back on the greatest success that we had with the Patriots, and even you know, the the year that we won the NFC championship, I was with the Falcons that year, knowing how the locker room accountability was and how people really would have uncomfortable conversations with their contemporaries, with their peers. Yeah, they did it in a respectful way. Sometimes it would have to be, you know, maybe in an aggressive way in terms of delivery. That's what it took. But that's our culture too. That's the culture of our sport. Sure. So the accountability component is so important. But again, you ask how you create that. I think it goes back to Jim, the people that you hire. Yeah. When you go and hire people, we all want people that have, again, whether it's tools, intellect, all those things are important. Yep. But focus on the makeup of the individuals and find people that are willing to be selfless, that understand that if we hold one another accountable, everyone's going to have success because I we were true believers. I'm a big believer in the high tides raise all boats. So once people understand that and accept that, that's where you have a better chance for accountability.

Jim Fitzpatrick 10:10

Sure, sure. Now you've worked alongside legendary coaches and some of the greatest players, in fact, the GOAT in NFL history. What's one or two leadership lessons from those experiences that every business leader and business owner can apply uh to their own organization?

Lessons From Belichick And Brady

SPEAKER_02 10:28

Yeah, I, you know, I you the some of the it all goes back to again, work ethic. Yeah. You know, Bill Belichick, Bill Parcells, uh, Charlie Weiss, who was a coordinator for us, Dan Quinn, who was with us in Atlanta. Yeah. Heck of a coach. Um, and then some of the players, Tom Brady, Matt Ryan, all of those people had this amazing work ethic, and they developed work habits. Again, I'm going back to this again, and their level of accountability, not only for other people, but themselves, was extraordinary. And for instance, Tom Brady, he helped us develop a number of players. If you look back, some of our most successful receivers that we had and played under Tom Brady were not high draft picks. They were people that went out on the field practice field early, stayed late, did extra, did more, not just grinding to grind, but they held people accountable to a very high standard, but then the standard that they held themselves to, truly held themselves to, was even greater that they put on other people. Yeah. And as I watched it happen place after place, even when I first went to work for Bill Belichick in Cleveland, he was willing, there was no job that was too big, there was no job that was too small. Bill was the head coach of the Cleveland Browns, and I used to watch him go over to the copy machine back when copy machines were a thing. Yeah, he would be running his own copies. So when people see leaders doing all the little things and being detailed, when when there's the demands of the job, they understand people are willing to do everything that they're asking you to do, sure, it creates credibility and accountability, Jim.

Jim Fitzpatrick 12:13

Yeah, yeah, I could definitely see that. And uh Tom Brady was known to be the first guy at the at the at the field for practice and the last one to leave and held himself, as you were just mentioning, to that higher standard. And the players were aware of that a hundred percent of the time, right?

SPEAKER_02 12:30

Absolutely. And

The Late Night Brady Story

SPEAKER_02 12:31

I'll tell you a quick story here. So we drafted Tommy in in 2000, and he didn't play. He was our fourth quarterback the whole season. The next year, it we were getting ready for the 2001 draft. It was probably late March, early April, and I'm there late on a Friday night in the office. I'm the last one in the in the scouting department personnel office, and I'm getting ready to leave. And we're now building Gillette Stadium. We so we're in the old stadium, and we we didn't have an indoor facility. We had this one of those old school bubbles, and as I go to leave, I see that the lights are on in the bubble. I'm like, oh, who left the lights on in the bubble? So I drive around the construction, I go over to where the bubble is, and now it's 9:30-ish on a Friday night in the spring, and as I pull up, there's this little yellow Jeep there. And I'm like, okay, Brady had this little yellow jeep. It was, you know, back before yellow was a cool color, he was driving a yellow Jeep. Right. One of the Drew Bledsoe got him a deal on this Jeep as a joke. And I walk into the facility and he, you know, through the through the doors, sure, and he's there by himself, and he's got those elastic bands around his ankles, he's doing footwork drills, wow, and he's throwing the ball into the net with the holes with the buckets in it. Sure. And I go in there, and again, Tommy is at this point, he's still Tommy. Yeah. Now mind you, there's a lot of things that a guy that looks like Tom Brady can be doing on a Friday night in the spring of 30. Yes. And he's there by himself. No one else is around. Wow. And I go into the off, go into the bubble and say, Hey, hey, what do you do? And make sure you lock up when you're done. Sure. And we had some small talk, and as I'm getting ready to leave, he turns on and he goes, Hey, I go, what's up, Tommy? He goes, do me a favor. I go, what's up? He goes, Don't tell anyone you saw me here tonight. Wow. And he was dead serious. He was there and he was embarrassed to have been seen. But his work ethic, his work habit habits, he was there on a Friday night where he could have been doing a million other things. Of course. I mean, there's a lot of things a young guy like that could have been doing. Of course. And and there he was trying to get better, but he also had this sense of, I don't want to call it insecurity, but embarrassment that he knew in his mind he had to work harder in order to get good enough. But that was his whole career, Jim. That was his entire career.

Jim Fitzpatrick 14:55

Wow. Wow. You you must have lived in this world of inspiration from all of these coaches that you uh had the pleasure of working with and these players, and walked home every night thinking, wow, I'm I gotta pinch myself here. This I mean, stories like that and so many others that you're exposed to and involved in, uh must have been one heck of a career.

SPEAKER_02 15:15

It was extraordinary. And and very early in my career, even when we were in Cleveland, you know, you go back to that Cleveland Brown staff, yeah. Bill was a head coach and and it didn't work out, and he ended up getting fired. But our defensive coordinator was Nick Saban. Ozzie Newsom, you know, who long before he was a general. Unbelievable, right? Kirk Ferenc was our offensive line coach. He's now going into like his 26th year at the University of Iowa, and he's the winningest coach in Big Ten history. There was proximity and access to so many great minds and so many great people. Um, and then the athletes too. So if you're if you're humble enough and smart enough to just be quite my dad always told me, you know, two eyes, two ears, one mouth, use them in the proper proportion. Yeah, and you pay attention to what's going on around you. It was it was truly a blessing, Jim.

Jim Fitzpatrick 16:04

Truly. Yeah, I can imagine. Wow. You you you need your own uh uh uh book or something out there that tells these stories because you gotta do it. You gotta you gotta do it. We're we're hoping that you do that for sure. I know the our viewers are probably going, I gotta I gotta read this guy's book right now. But uh it's coming, folks. It's coming. I'm I'm gonna convince him to do it right here. But uh if you could leave our our our our viewers with uh with maybe one piece of advice for building stronger teams, and you've you've mentioned a number of them, but if you had to boil it down to one, uh to build stronger teams and a culture that lasts, what what would it be?

Servant Leadership And Final Advice

SPEAKER_02 16:43

To me, it's don't ever forget that it's about the people. Yeah. Individuals in our sport, individuals go to Pro Bowls, teams win championships. Yeah, find selfless people that care about a greater good, that understand that the goal is to raise all boats. Yeah, focus on others. And and for a number of years, the word servant leadership was, I think, a little overused because people talked about it, but they didn't live it. Yeah, it's true. Understand that we are all servants, regardless of what your role is, whether you're at the top of the organizational chart, the middle, the bottom. We are all here to serve. So to me, look for the people that are willing to serve, that care about others. Because in the end, everyone's gonna have the same tools to use in a business and to to drive data and and and do all those things. But at the end of the day, we're always gonna be the consumers, they're always gonna be people. Right. Right. So lock into people and who they are.

Jim Fitzpatrick 17:44

That's right. That's right. Great, great advice. I couldn't agree more. And you're right, we do talk about being a servant leader and servant leadership, but we don't often practice it. So I agree. That's that's great advice. Scott Pioli, a former NFL general manager, executive, and executive, I should say, who now advises organizations on leadership, culture, and team building, much the way he talked about today. But this is only a the tip of the iceberg. So if there's organizations out there that are looking to really take your event to the next level, this is the guy you want to bring in. You want to impress that audience. Here he's the guy. We're so happy to have him here and honored. So thank you so much, Scott. Really appreciate it. Love to do a follow-up with you because I got 20 questions here that my audience wants me to ask, but time didn't allow me to. So again, thank you so much.

SPEAKER_02 18:30

And again, any folks that want to find me, I am on LinkedIn and uh I always respond. So thank you so much for having me. Truly, truly appreciate it. Absolutely.

Announcer 18:38

Anytime. Thanks so much. Thanks for watching Inside Automotive with Jim Fitzpatrick.